After searching the surrounding area in vain for anything else of value I headed to the secondary rendezvous. Unlike the primary one, it had been selected with more in mind than just its convenient location in the middle of the Lordship of Gray Haven Manor on the line of retreat away from its western border with Stevenage Grange and towards its neighbour to the east. It wasn’t by any means the most defensible position we could find within the lordship but that wasn’t why the captain had selected it in the first place.

Its location was a large exposed boulder sticking out of the ground in an otherwise relatively flat area surrounded on two opposite sides by coppiced oak woodland. It had been chosen because a lookout on top of the nine or so-foot-high boulder had a good view of the surrounding area. At the same time from the top of some of the higher nearby trees you could have a partial view of parts of the boulder that provided some idea of what was happening in the area around it. This could help me or anyone else for that matter heading to the rendezvous determine if it was occupied by friend or foe, not completely but anything was better than nothing.

I of course hoped that other members of the Brothers n Arms Mercenary Company were awaiting me at the rendezvous. Realistically however I felt that even though the deadline the lieutenant had given for the survivors to head back to camp hadn’t passed this was unlikely. Either they had already departed for camp, had been captured before they reached it hadn’t even tried to make it there and headed directly to the camp.

By the way, when I refer to the camp I am talking about the headquarters of the Brothers n Arms Mercenary Company where we are based during the campaign season when not under contract, in between contracts or training. Between the end of one campaign season and a month before the start of another most of the members of the company head home if they have one. As for the rest of them, they tend to do one of two things, whoring, drinking and gambling until their money runs out or finding temporary employment elsewhere. Personally, I visit my sister for a week or so and spend the rest of the time honing my skills.

What I hope didn’t happen was that the enemy tracked someone to the rendezvous and set up a trap for anyone else returning to it. With this possibility in mind, I unpacked from his horse's saddle the captain's most prized possession, a spyglass, before hitching it and the other horses to nearby trees well away from the rendezvous. A then proceeded on foot to the southern woodland as near to the boulder as I dared and climbed the third tallest tree I could find. Using the spyglass I viewed the area around the boulder as best as I could but was unable to find any indication of current occupation.

I then backtracked to the horses before making my way over to the northern woodland and climbing a tree near the boulder but this time I was able to make out three figures lounging against it and two horses hitched nearby. I was able to recognise all three of them sergeant Michael Winter corporal Kris Wentrope and private Randolph Tendry, I could have quickly made my way over there to greet them but I didn’t.

It wasn’t because of any real instinct that something was off just my cautious nature and something I had once overheard the Captain tell the Lieutenant, "There are old Mercenaries, There are bold Mercenaries but there are no old bold Mercenaries." With this in mind, I spent a good ten minutes viewing the three of them and it wasn’t until I was about to pack it in and head over to them that I noticed something out of place, they weren’t moving about all that much as if something or someone was preventing them for doing so.

I then spent another few minutes viewing them with no change in their peculiar behaviour. I then climbed down the tree and headed over to another one a few yards away to gain a slightly different angle on my fellow mercenaries. I wasn’t able to spot anything different so I headed to a tree even further away and this time I spotted the vague outline of a fourth individual at the edge of the woodland opposite so I headed to yet another tree to see if I could get a better view of the individual in question.

I was now able to make out his face but I didn’t recognise it at all and I was also able to spot a further unidentified individual and someone I did recognise by the name of Darrell Cecil, a sergeant in the Bloody Clock Mercenary Company whom I had met two years ago.

So what I had feared had come to pass and the enemy had captured at least three of my comrades who had escaped after the earlier battle. It was unlikely that they were the only ones but they didn’t need more than a few captives to lure others into their trap. I could have left all of them to their devices, after all, they had no doubt given their parole and were thus unable to help me affect their own escape and they would later be Ransomed back to the company.

At the same time however, the future of the company was in doubt so would the money to ransom them back be available when the time came and others might have been out there yet to fall into the enemy’s hands. Thus faced with such a dilemma I was unsure how to proceed however before making my mind up I thought it best to first try and determine how many enemies I would be dealing with if I decided to intervene.

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My investigation of the possible enemy numbers which lasted half an hour or so yielded a preliminary figure of no less than eight individuals in four different groups. The three I first identified, another grouping of three and two individuals working alone. Facing all eight of them on my own seemed a nearly impossible thing to do and it was also possible that others were about whom I had not discovered.

I thought it best to first try and intercept any of my comrades who might yet be making their way to the rendezvous. This might have been a waste of time but I couldn’t think what else to do and that thus it was the only responsible way to precede.

I spent a good few hours near where I had hitched the horses looking out for any of my comrades but to no avail. I began to worry that either my remaining comrades would head to the rendezvous via a more indirect route or that they had been as cautious in their approach as I had been. That upon discovering the same thing had judged it best to give up on everyone else and proceed directly to our camp even if it was two weeks of uncertain travel away.

Luckily these thoughts were not to last as I heard a twig break nearby and turned around to come face to face with Private Ian Young, one of the best scouts in the company. At the age of thirty-one, he had been in the company for over a decade and was well thought of.

Barring his thankfully now less common drunken escapades when not under contract he would have at least made corporal by now. For some reason, we had never really gotten along with each other but I never for a moment questioned his competence as a scout.

“So how long have you been watching me for Ian?”

“Not long Niel, just a few minutes really.”

“And how long have you been lurking about in the general vicinity?”

“Well I first spied upon the rendezvous spot oh six hours ago but I returned an hour ago for another look when I spotted signs someone else had been doing the same and tracked you down after I had a bit to eat.”

“How many enemy combatants were you able to spot, my count was eight but I’m sure I might have missed some?”

“You only missed the one corporal but he wasn’t easy to spot I tell you, I haven’t heard of anyone in the bloody clock capable of that so I bet he was a local, probably some poacher I bet.”

“So what do you think of our chances of taking them out?”

“Not good well if it was just the two of us but your not the first I’ve stumbled onto Jonathan Carmichael and Jackson Roach are waiting for me to return not far from here with our horses.”

“Are they up for it!”

‘Well Carmichael's horse is in a bad state but other than that they're well rested and should be up for anything.”

“Well in that case led me to them and we’ll see what we can do.”

‘Just follow me.”

For the next few minutes, he silently led me in the direction of our comrades.

“It’s a pity what happened to the captain Neil, Ethel will be devastated, they were to be married this winter.”

“Well, she isn’t the only one Stella and the children for instance.”

“Yes but only Stephan is old enough to truly understand their loss.”

The captain's fiancé was named Beryl not Ethel and we both knew that, it and the other names were code that the founder of the company had devised over a century ago. Ethal meant that we were being followed, Stella asked for the best response to the situation and Steve well it meant I’ll cause a distraction and you’ll deal with it.

“Well if you could excuse me for a moment I have to go and relieve myself.”

“Well if you have to, you have to, I’ll just wait for you, try not to take too long.”

While he headed off to the side a bit I prepared to deal with the enemy scout, hopefully, there was only one of them, otherwise, it could get tricky. I wasn’t sure exactly what Ian was planning to do but I thought it likely that he would pretend to scarper. This would lead to the enemy scout doing one of four things, stay back and wait for further developments, head after Ian, come and try and capture/kill me or a fourth option I was not aware of.

If he stayed back then I could try and capture him in turn but he would likely see me coming and either flee or try and take me on. Without knowing each other's levels it was hard to tell what the outcome would be in a confrontation between us so in that case I hope Ian would circle back and lend a hand.

But then just because I don’t know his level doesn’t mean the opposite is true, with the right skills scouts can identify things at longer ranges than others after all. If that was the case then depending on his level his response to any move on my part would be telling if he wasn’t bluffing which I couldn’t possibly know so would have to just play it by ear and hope for the best.

If however, he headed after Ian I might be able to track him down and deal with him, again hoping Ian circled back but the level dilemma would still come into play. If he tried to capture or kill me then that either showed he knew my level and was confident in dealing with me or was of a high enough level that he was willing to chance it.

In that case, I could only hope he wasn’t an archer or something like that and would thus have to engage me at close quarters. I thought what would determine his actual response would be his level, his skills and how he thought these compared to Ian’s. Also that it was more likely than not that he would try and take me out and then head after Ian.

In the end the enemy scout after waiting two minutes before acting charged at me and if I hadn’t managed to fire an arrow at him that aimed true then things would have likely turned out differently. He was after all a full three levels ahead of me and while his sword skills weren’t all that much better than mine he was I judged more experienced. I didn’t however escape unscathed having received several wounds to my arms, torso and even my face.

You have Slain (Level 18 Rogue)

Skill: Identify (Apprentice) => Identify (Journeyman)

Passive Skill

You can now identify more details of people, creatures and other things by studying them for a moment